You have many beautiful and excellent similes and aphorisms. But when you come to sacred subjects, you apply them childishly, and even perversely. 130 For you crawl on the ground, and have no thought of anything which is beyond mere human conception. Now, the things which God does are neither childish, nor civil, nor human things; but things of God, 131 which exceed all human conception. For example, you do not see that these tumults and divisions are marching through the world by divine counsel and operation, and you are afraid that the skies will fall. But I, on the other hand (thanks be to God!), see good in these storms. That is because I see other and greater things in the world to come, compared with which, these things seem like the whispers of a gentle breeze, or the murmur of a soft-flowing stream.
SECT. 19. Doubts whether the dogma of free confession is scriptural. The Pope and God cannot be obeyed conjointly. The people must be left to abuse.
But you either deny, or profess not to know, that our dogma of free confession and satisfaction, is the Word of God.
This is another 132 question. We, however, know and are sure, both that it is the word of God, and it is that word by which Christian liberty is maintained in order that we may not allow ourselves to be entrapped into servitude by human traditions and laws. This is a point which I have abundantly proved elsewhere. And if you have a mind to test it, I am ready to plead in supp0rt of it, even at your judgment seat, 133 or to debate it with you. Many books of ours are before the public upon these questions. You say, ‘Still, however, the laws of the pontiffs ought to be suffered and to be observed equally with the divine laws, out of love — if both the eternal salvation of men, through the word of God, and the peace of the world, may thus be made to subsist together without tumult.’
I have said before that this cannot be. The prince of this world does not suffer the laws of his Pope and his cardinals to be maintained consistent with liberty. Rather, he has it in his mind to entrap and enchain men’s consciences by them. The true God cannot endure this. Thus it is, that the word of God and the traditions of men, are opposed to each other with an implacable discord — no different than that with which God himself and Satan oppose each other.
The one undoes the works and subverts the dogmas of the other, like two kings laying waste each other’s kingdom. “He that is not with me is against me,” says Christ. Mat 12.30
Now, with respect to your ‘fear that the multitude, who are prone to crimes, will abuse such liberty’ — this must be classed among those disturbances we have been speaking of as a part of that temporal leprosy which is to be tolerated; of that evil which is to be endured. Nor are these persons of so great account that the word of God should be given up in order to restrain their abuse of it. If all cannot be saved, still, some are saved for whose sake the word of God is given — these will love it more fervently, and consent to it more reverently. And what evils, I ask, have wicked men not done even before this, when there was no word of God? Rather, what good did they do? Has the world not forever overflowed with war, fraud, violence, discord, and all manner of wickedness, so that Micah compares the very best among them to a thorn? (Mic 7.4) What would he call the rest, do you think? Now, indeed, it begins to be imputed to the promulgation of the Gospel, that the world is wicked — because through the good Gospel it becomes more truly apparent how wicked the world was while it lived in its own darkness, without the Gospel. So too, since letters have flourished, illiterate men attribute to literature the fact that their ignorance has become notorious. Such are the thanks we render to the word of life and salvation! We may imagine, then, what fear must have been kindled among the Jews, when the Gospel absolved all men from the law of Moses! 134
SECT. 20. Erasmus’ counsel about persons, time, and place, is pernicious.
What degree of licence did this prodigious liberty not seem to hereby concede to wicked men? But the Gospel was not therefore withheld. Wicked men were left to their own ways, and the godly were charged not to use their liberty as an occasion for the flesh. (Gal. 5.13)
Nor does that part of your counsel or remedy 135 stand good, where you say, ‘It is lawful to declare the truth among any persons, at any time, and in any manner, but it is not expedient.’ And to prove this, you very absurdly adduce Paul’s words, “All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient.” (1Cor 6.12)
Paul is not speaking here about doctrine, or about teaching the truth, as you would represent him to do. You are confounding his words, and drawing them wherever you please, No, he would have the truth proclaimed everywhere, at any time, by any means, even rejoicing that Christ is preached out of envy. And he expressly testifies in the very words that he rejoices if Christ is preached by any means.136 Paul is speaking about the practice and use of doctrine — to wit, of those vaunters of Christian liberty who, “seeking their own” 137 did not care what stumbling-blocks they made, and what offences they occasioned by them for the weak.
The true doctrine is to be preached always, openly, steadily, never to be turned aslant, never to be concealed: 138 for there is no occasion of stumbling in it: ’tis the rod of straightness. 139 And who ever empowered you, or gave you the right, to bind Christian doctrine to places, persons, times, and cases, when Christ wills it to be published, and to reign in the world with the most perfect freedom? “For the word of God is not bound,” says Paul, (2Tim 2.9) and will Erasmus bind it? Nor has God given us a word to select particular places, persons, and times, since Christ says, “Go into all the world.” He does not say, ‘Go to a certain place, and do not go to a certain place,’ as Erasmus speaks. Again; “Preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16.15) He does not say, ‘Preach it to some, and do not preach it others.’ In short, you prescribe the acceptance of persons, acceptance of places, and acceptance of manner — that is to say, TIME-SERVINGS — in ministering the word of God. Whereas, this is one great part of the glory of the word: that “there is no acceptance of persons” (as Paul says), and “God does not respect persons.” You see again how rashly you make war upon 140 the word of God, as though you preferred your own thoughts and counsels far above it.
If we were now to request you to distinguish times, persons, and modes of speaking the truth for us, when would you determine them? The world would have laid its end to sleep, and time be no more, before you fixed on a single sure rule. Meanwhile, what becomes of the teacher’s office? Where will we find the souls who are to be taught? Indeed, how is it possible for you to lay down any sure rule, when you do not know any criteria by which to estimate persons, times, and modes of speech? But even if you assuredly knew them, you would still be ignorant of the hearts of men. Unless, of course, you were to choose to adopt this standard for your manner of speaking, and for your time and person: ‘teach the truth, so that the Pope will not be indignant, so that Caesar will not be angry, so that the cardinals and princes are not displeased; and provided further, that there are no tumults or commotions in the world, and the multitude are not stumbled by it, and made worse.’
You have already seen, what sort of a counsel this is. But you choose to play the rhetorician in this manner, with idle words, because you must say something.
How much better it would be for us wretched men to give to God, who knows all hearts, the glory of prescribing the manner, persons, and times of speaking the truth! He knows ‘what,’ ‘when,’ ‘how,’ and ‘to whom,’ we ought to speak; and his injunction is that his Gospel, which is necessary to all, should know no limits of time or place, but should be preached to all men, at all times, and in all places. I have already shown that the things set forth in the Scripture are such as lie exposed to the view of all men; such as, whether we will or not, must be spread abroad among the common people; and such as are salutary. This is
